ABSTRACT
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, imperial-led globalization facilitated European empire building in Southeast Asia, and the acquisition of colonies coincided with new commercial and trading networks between empires and imperial dominions. Britain dominated this first wave of globalization, which was characterized by modern economic growth, investment and agricultural expansion, and the commodification of labour in Asia. Colonial powers also sanctioned the export of labour and established indenture or contract labour regimes that enabled migrants to finance their travel and passage costs (Tinker 1974; Kaur 2004a). Improvements in shipping technology, the commercialization of passenger transportation, and trade policies further enhanced transregional connections and migration. Mainly Chinese and Indian migrants moved to Southeast Asia and the principal migration fows were to Malaya (comprising the Malay Peninsula and Singapore), Burma and Thailand, whilst the port cities of Singapore and Penang functioned as important transit hubs. By the late 1930s and 1940s, wars and globally depressed trade conditions resulted in reduced transnational movements as Britain and other European powers introduced border control systems and legislation to restrict immigration. Furthermore, after the Second World War, the imperial powers' decolonization plans in Southeast Asia and the subsequent emergence of independent nation states foreshadowed the ending of open immigration policies. Consequently, by the 1960s, low-skilled labour migration had effectively been curtailed by the new Southeast Asian nation states (Kaur 2004b).
